Up on my soap box....

St. Mary's on the Highlands Episcopal Church

This is one of those random posts that has nothing to do with crafts or cooking but that I wanted to share anyway.  Because I can.  (Even though I do feel a little odd because I'm probably going to direct the priest who gave the sermon that prompted this to read my "bitch" blog.)

In church this week our sermon was about recognizing someone's spiritual gifts and using them to make the Kingdom of God a reality.  The sermon was about one of the readings for the day:  1 Corinthians 12:1-11.  From this I came away with the phrase:  "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."  What a powerful message to think about on the day before MLK Day which has become, for many, a Day of Service.

I started to think about how I use my gifts in this world.  I hope that when I shuffle off this mortal coil (sorry, I thought since I was talking religion I could be poetic) that people will remember me as someone who made a difference, even if it is a small one.

So here's my soap box.
DO SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE ELSE!!  We are all wrapped up in our own lives, we are all busy, we all have a lot going on.... but stop for a minute.  Take a breath.  Realize how lucky you are.  Think about what you can do that can make someone else's life or the world around you a better one.  Or, as my priest put it, "Bring the Kingdom of God closer to the Southside.".  It's possible that is not a direct quote.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not planning on using MLK day as A Day of Service.  I plan on spending the day with my son doing what he wants to do because I.... you know what, it doesn't matter.... I just am.  BUT I spend a lot of time volunteering so I feel like I'm allowed to get up on this soap box.  I thought I'd give a list of some volunteer opportunities around the Birmingham Area in the hopes that someone will see a potential to help.  These are all ministries/opportunities that I have either been involved in or have a friend that is involved in.  Hopefully something will speak to you.

The Sawyerville Work Project is a 100% free day camp in Alabama's Black Belt sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.  If you have a special skill they are looking for people to come in for the day and run a workshop.  If you have/are a teenager or young college age student they are looking for camp counselors.  If you can cook or buy food they are looking for people to provide meals to their volunteers during the camp.  If you have money... they want that too.

The Birmingham Hospitality Network hosts homeless families in churches while offering comfort, support and help.  Whenever they come to St. Mary's they are always looking for help with dinners and "hosts".

The Starlab is a portable planetarium that comes to Oak Mountain Elementary once per year and all of the children get to have a lesson for free.  This is also a self serving plug because I'm in charge of coordinating and training volunteers and would love some people who are interested.

The Community Kitchens feeds anyone who is hungry.  Period.

If all else fails and you are a human with blood in your body then here is a list of Red Cross Blood Donation Centers.

This is just a small list but there is so much you can do.  If you have made it all the way through this and have a volunteer opportunity that is near and dear to you please post a link in the comments.

Fried Dough and Various Kinds of Sugar

Quick and easy (and cheap) doughnuts.  My family was ridiculously impressed and quiet for at least 30 minutes while they ate.

What you will need: oil, sugar, cinnamon, powdered sugar, raw biscuits, a deep skillet, tongs, candy thermometer (this is optional but it gives you a slightly better idea of the temperature to have your oil)










Step One:  Heat the oil to about 240.  You want to have it hot enough to brown the biscuits but not so hot that they get too brown before the dough it cooked.

(Please don't make fun of my candy thermometer. I know all of the numbers have worn away but I can still see them if I look very closely.)

Step Two:  Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.  This is what worked well for me.  If you'd like to have them look like doughnuts you can punch a circle out of the middle of each biscuit or you could use cookie cutters to cut shapes you like.  Remember they are going to puff up a bit and might lose some of their shape.

Step Three:  Plop the dough in the oil.  Leave on one side about 1-2 minutes.  They will start to get brown.  Once one side is brown flip them over and let the other side fry for another 1-2 minutes.










This is what they look like when you flip them over.

Step Four:  While they are cooking put powdered sugar in a bowl and mix refined sugar with cinnamon in another bowl.

Step Five:  As you pull them out of the oil immediately roll them around in the sugar.

This is the cinnamon and sugar.  Obviously I did the same thing with the powdered sugar but I couldn't get the picture to turn the other way and I was being mildly OCD about it.  So I deleted it.

Step Six:  Put them on a paper towel or a cooling rack.  I use the Alton Brown method of putting paper towels down and then putting a cooling rack on top upside down so some of the oil drains but they don't sit in the oil.



DONE!!!  OK this is a horrible picture but I was having to dodge hands in the picture.  OK... they were my hands but it was hot fried dough covered in sugar so you can't blame me.



Recap:  Writing this post took longer than the entire process of making these.  Everyone loved them.  They were absolutely unhealthy.  The only thing I had to purchase was a can of Grands (which was on sale for $1.00 at Publix this week) and everything else I already had in my cabinet.

This one will go in the "Pinterest Win" category.

Monster Jean Patch

Jeans are expensive.  Kids are not as willing to wear patches in their jeans anymore.... were they ever willing???  Anyway... I discovered last year that Benny would wear a patched pair of jeans if I did something fun to it.  This is my "monster" jean patch.

The thing that's nice about this is that as long as you have some sort of fabric scraps laying around the house and some basic sewing supplies, the cost is $0!!!  Right up my alley!!!

Supplies:  A pair of jeans with a hole in the knee, fabric scraps, scissors, needle, thread (I decided that it needed something extra and I ended up using fabric paint as well but it's really up to you if you want to use that or not.)

Step One:  Clean up the hole by cutting the strings from in/around it.

Step Two:  Cut a piece of fabric slightly larger than the hole

Step Three:  Put the fabric under the hole and add some rick rack to look like teeth and pin in place.  

 Step Four:  Sew around the hole (I decided to use bright green but you can use a blue or something that will blend in with the jeans) making sure to secure both the fabric and the rick rack in place.

Step Five:  Using fabric, buttons, felt, etc... add some eyes.

Step Six:  I used orange embroidery floss to secure the eyes in place and add some more color.  You can use a matching color of thread.  That's the fun thing about this... it's really completely up to you!

Step Seven:  The last time I made these I stopped at step six but this time I thought it looked a little too plain so I decided to paint a little something extra with fabric paint.  

When I was done I thought maybe I should have stopped at step six but Benny liked them so I have decided to count these as a crafting "win".

I did these after I got home from work while my husband was cooking dinner.  (Don't get too excited he decided to cook Macaroni and Cheese with Sausage but it's the thought that counts.)  My point is that they are quick and easy and even though these didn't turn out, in my opinion, as good as the last ones did... they still saved a pair of jeans that would have otherwise been sent to Goodwill.  Hopefully we will get a few more wears out of these before I have to buy some more.

Here I am World!!!!

I've started a blog.  Woo!!  OK.  I'll admit I've done this before.  I had one where I ranted about things that got on my nerves.  That was kind of fun but sometimes I would have to edit myself so much not to piss everyone off that it stopped being entertaining.  I had one about romance novels (under a different name because it was dirty) and that was REALLY fun... especially when the authors were commenting on my posts.  It made me feel special.  But having to keep up with multiple passwords was really just beyond me.  So I'm going to try again.  I'd like to say this is a craft blog but I'm going to call it a "me" blog.  Chances are there will be a good mixture of rants about whatever is on my nerves at the moment, funny things my kid says/does, annoying things my husband says/does (I'm just kidding.... after 11 years of marriage he is always perfect), and random factoids.  BUT there will be lots of crafts.  I love crochet and really anything with yarn, sewing, painting, stenciling.  Also, probably a fair amount of recipes.  You'll also see some fun family/kid fun stuff.  So... hopefully you guys will subscribe and give me lots of positive vibes so I'll keep it up.  I promise to try to be entertaining, though I know I will fail at times... Remember I base my self esteem off others thinking I'm awesome!! ; )